Trump abruptly scraps rallies in Kansas & Iowa: Hear why

[0:00] Trump bailing tonight, scrapping not one, but actually two rallies in two different states [0:05] moments ago, dropping a campaign trip to Iowa. The CNN poll of polls finds essentially a dead [0:11] heap there. That's a state that Trump won, by the way, by more than 13 points. And that Iowa [0:17] cancellation just breaking now, coming right on the heels of the president canceling a trip to [0:21] Kansas, where he was going to campaign for the embattled Republican Senator Roger Marshall. [0:25] Now, Marshall won his seat by more than 11 points in 2020, is now, of course, at serious risk of [0:31] losing that seat to a Democrat. The latest CNN polls show Marshall trailing Democrat Adam Hamilton by [0:37] four percentage points there in Kansas. Now, Trump says he's going to hold tele-rallies this weekend [0:43] instead of actually going to the ground. So when he was asked about it, specifically before we even [0:48] knew about Iowa, he was asked about Kansas. Why are you not going anymore? So the president told [0:52] the reporter asking the question that the reporter was disgusting and looked like hell. [0:58] Look at this guy. He's way out of shape. Look at how badly he comes to me. Sir, you're not going to [1:04] go to Kansas. I'm not going to Kansas because he's doing very well. I'm going to do a tele-rally. [1:08] Tomorrow, I'm doing Florida. He said, what's the reason? After doing, what, 28? He says, [1:14] what's the reason for this, sir, that you're not going to Kansas? You know what the reason is? [1:19] I don't feel I have to go to Kansas. I'm going to Florida tomorrow, and I'll do if something else [1:25] comes up. But he said, you're not going to Kansas, sir. Are you feeling well? You've been following [1:31] me for two weeks. I feel perfect. You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape. You look like hell. [1:40] You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape. You look like hell. Of all the things Trump said today, [1:44] that's what the White House rapid response team clipped and proudly posted on X. [1:49] And Trump's decision to suddenly nix that rally in Kansas seems to have caught Roger Marshall, [1:54] as I mentioned, the incumbent that he was going to be something for, off guard. [2:00] Senator, any reaction to the president canceling the in-person rally this weekend? [2:04] I'm not sure yet. I think they think they're doing so well in the polls that he's probably [2:10] got better places to spend his time. I'm not sure. Let's go through some of the reasons this could [2:16] be. He's tired, we'd understand, and he's not making a ton of sense on the rally stages, right? [2:21] Um, the crowds are small. He doesn't want that optic. Um, he's getting heckled at a lot of these [2:27] rallies, and that's getting picked up. Maybe people like Roger Marshall and Ashley Hinson said, [2:32] no, we're better, maybe we're better without you in these closing. Who knows? But none of them are [2:37] good news. There are no good explanations, including his, that he's needed in Florida. That's not any [2:44] better. So none of the explanations are good. It's not a good look. Um, I think the reality might be [2:50] setting in that those two races in particular are probably set. They're set. They're locked. [2:55] This is where they're going to stay. Yeah. And if those are set and locked, I mean, what does it [2:58] mean for everything else, Governor? Well, a couple of things. I wouldn't read into Kansas in particular. [3:03] As you said, he was there three times in like the past week or week and a half. So they're plenty [3:07] saturated. And as a candidate, I can tell you in the last week, you're not, it's the base is locked [3:11] in. You're absolutely right, Essie. The bases are locked in. You're going after those last undecided [3:15] voters. And that's not necessarily, you know, where Trump is going to have. Maybe nobody feels [3:18] there's any of those left this time. Oh, there's plenty left. I think that, especially in a place [3:22] like Kansas, where there's normally not a tough race, but now people are like, oh, wait, there's [3:26] a race. Well, Democrats are going after independence. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. They are. Republicans seem not [3:30] to be. Well, and that's maybe the pivot here. Hey, let's just in a place like Kansas, the numbers say [3:35] we still have a decent undecided that those aren't necessarily our base. Let's pivot there. Yeah. [3:40] Listen, I think that what happened in Kansas is that they got a poll back because we're going into the [3:44] last week. A lot of these campaigns, they do one more poll. This is what they're seeing internal. [3:48] Right. Because there's no, there's no reason to poll like after Saturday, because there's nothing [3:52] you can do. If you find out something, what are you going to do? You can't buy more TV time. You [3:55] can't do anything else. I bet you they got some numbers back that said Trump is not helping. In [4:00] fact, probably he's hurt. He's hurting. And they're trying to keep him away from it. And you've got this [4:04] side by side that's happening right now between Donald Trump and Barack Obama on the campaign trail. [4:08] And I'm telling you, Trump is not coming out well when you see the two of them mano a mano, the way many of us [4:14] have wanted to see it for a long time. When you see the two of them together, Trump doesn't come [4:17] out well. Well, because they're actually both, literally, I mean, literally we're on the stage [4:21] at the same time. David, what do you read into this? I think we're looking at it through the [4:25] wrong end of the lens. The question is not why is Trump not suddenly not campaigning for [4:29] these candidates. The question is why was he ever campaigning for them? Okay. So normally when you [4:33] have an unfavorable environment, 2006 for the Republicans, 2014 for the Democrats, a president [4:39] who cares about his party says to at-risk incumbents, especially in the Senate, look, you need to [4:44] denounce me. You denounce me. You need to put, you need to make some space. Go ahead. My feelings [4:49] won't be hurt. This is about something bigger than myself. Because of Trump's malignant narcissism, [4:54] he had to make himself the candidate in every one of these races. And he's not helping. [4:57] Well, in fact, he many times said, if I were on the ballot, this would all be great because [5:01] they want me. [5:03] If there were an environment where John Cornyn had prevailed in Texas and John Cornyn had been [5:08] allowed to say, you know, I'll be with the president when I agree with him, but as you've [5:12] seen, I often disagree with him, that he might have a chance of holding Texas. That's the stance [5:17] he would take in a place like Kansas. You know, with the president some of the time, other times, [5:20] and meanwhile he's in Washington. And in fact, I've even staged maybe some incident this year [5:24] to show my independence. Trump would not allow the Republicans to do that. And he is dragging [5:29] down people because of his pathologies, which I'm sure they would all have wished the president [5:35] never came in the first place. [5:36] Well, to you, maybe this is when you were saying, maybe it's Roger Marshall who was [5:40] saying, I don't need you. [5:41] Yeah. [5:42] So Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran that vile ad and originally had a space to get out of it, [5:48] sort of, to say, well, I didn't know about it. And it was a pack or something. He could [5:51] try to find a way. [5:52] Trump, you know, said it was great. And Vivek tripled down. And now here we are. Finally, [5:57] it's no longer airing. The ad is no longer airing. And Ramaswamy said at a campaign event [6:03] today, is this your eight-year-old son? Quote, it ran to completion and we put up four other ads. [6:08] You know, it just ran its cycle. Yeah, right. No issue with it. [6:11] I mean, they can say anything because nothing matters. But no, if this were working, they'd [6:16] keep it up, period, full stop. Again, none of the explanations are good here. And these are [6:22] politicians. They're going to spin it. We should expect that. That doesn't make them crazy or unique. [6:27] But no one's buying this because we can all see. We've been seeing in real time the effect of an ad [6:33] like that, the effect of the things that Donald Trump has been saying on the campaign trail. [6:37] We're all ingesting it in real time. And we're watching the polls react. [6:42] So, so, so, Governor, you know, it was interesting. David Frum said something there about [6:46] you would get, you could even stage an incident. You would have something to show. I'm myself when [6:50] I want to be myself. So your brother's running for Senate in New Hampshire. Okay. And this is what [6:57] I was saying. Oh, that I love. I love this ad. It's my favorite ad of the whole cycle. [7:00] Okay. So we played it one night. It is, it is one of our, it is one of our favorite ads the whole [7:05] cycle. Okay. So here is part of an ad that your brother put out recently on this very subject. [7:12] The way Chris Pappas tells it, I'm President Trump's long lost son. I've never even met the [7:19] man. I'm so happy. I'm so happy right now. So Trump didn't have to cancel a rally there [7:25] because your brother made it clear that he didn't need him. Well, yeah. So, I mean, [7:29] every state's different. Maine, I would even argue Michigan, New Hampshire right now, [7:33] you're trying to get that independent vote, uh, and places like South Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, [7:38] Texas, Trump is going to go for the sole purpose of driving the base on. I think what they're [7:42] finding turning point USA is out there. They're knocking on more doors than ever before with the [7:47] base, with the, um, the low propensity voter, the low propensity midterm voter. And what they're [7:51] finding is a lot of those Trump voters are like, yeah, I'm good. Yeah. And so what they're trying to [7:55] do is drive those Trump voters out in a midterm that normally wouldn't come out. And that's why he's [8:00] been focusing in these conservative states. So I don't want to like nose into your Thanksgiving [8:04] dinner. Go ahead. Everyone else has. Okay. Okay. Okay. No, but now I say that and then I'm gonna do [8:10] it. Okay. So, um, you said if voters thought they were voting for you, um, that your, your brother [8:15] would be 30 points ahead and, and, and that he, your own brother hasn't asked you to join him on [8:21] the campaign trail. Oh, no, sure. So a couple of things that was people saying, well, you know, [8:24] people are going to confuse the two. There's no way people are confusing me and my brother. Right. [8:28] So that's, that's where the, uh, the statement came from. And it's true. I, as an eight year [8:32] governor, I was in people's living room every night, everyone know, knew who I was. And it's [8:36] a whole different, different dynamic. My brother's very independent. He's running his own race. As I [8:41] ran my own race, he's on his own two feet. He's winning it with shoe leather. He's not relying on [8:45] outside endorsements. Anything he asked me to do, I would do it. So you guys don't have a problem. [8:48] Oh my God. No, are you kidding? No, no, no. And he's gonna, and he's gonna win. He's, [8:52] I think he and Susan Collins are gonna win.